In a corner of the battlefield, Sabo and Luffy had just teamed up to take down Rob Lucci and his crew.
"That guy's the Pirate King from the last generation, huh? Wonder how strong he is! Whoa, Shanks is here too!" Luffy spun his head toward the direction of Roger's crew, his face lit up with excitement.
He looked ready to charge over and challenge Roger to a fight right then and there.
Sabo quickly grabbed him, pulling him back. "Our mission isn't to pick a fight with the Pirate King—it's to save Ace!"
Luffy snapped back to reality, nodding vigorously. "Right, save Ace first! Then I'll take on Ace's dad and claim the title of Pirate King!"
With that, he bolted toward Ace's location, full speed ahead.
Sabo sighed, rubbing his temples, but had no choice but to chase after him.
Meanwhile, the battlefield erupted back into chaos, with fierce clashes breaking out everywhere.
Roger was tangled up with Sengoku and Garp, while Whitebeard faced a swarm of the Navy's rising stars.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Despite the relentless assault from the Navy, Whitebeard stood unfazed, not giving an inch. With a single swing of his naginata, he sent several vice admirals flying.
Among them was Vice Admiral Doberman, who crashed into a warship in the corner of the battlefield, leaving a gaping hole in its hull.
Bang!
Doberman scrambled out of the wreckage, his face twisted with rage. "Damn that Whitebeard! That old bastard's still this strong!"
Fury burned in his chest. As a hardline "Hawk" in the Navy, Doberman was as unyielding as they came, and being swatted away by Whitebeard's blade only fueled his anger.
Just as he prepared to charge back into the fray, his steps froze.
"That's… could it be him?" His expression shifted.
From his vantage point, he could see a warship not far away, its deck bustling with Navy soldiers operating cannons to bombard the Whitebeard Pirates' ships.
But standing calmly among them was a young man, watching the battle unfold on the frozen bay.
Doberman blinked, stunned, before his eyes locked onto the figure.
He wasn't mistaken.
It was him!
The young man on the deck was none other than Lin Xuan, the leader of the Ninja Guild from the Sabaody Archipelago!
He was already here at Marineford!
What puzzled Doberman was why the Navy soldiers on the warship seemed oblivious to Lin Xuan's presence. They weren't attacking him, just letting him stand there, observing the battle.
Doberman's face darkened. His personality mirrored Akainu's—staunchly devoted to absolute justice, with a no-nonsense approach.
The sight before him sparked outrage. Have these soldiers betrayed the Navy? he wondered.
"I need to report this to Marshal Kong!" Doberman muttered to himself.
But he was too far from Steel Bone Kong to relay the message easily.
If that was the case—
Gripping his sword, Doberman coated the blade in a layer of black Armament Haki.
In the next instant, he leaped forward, charging toward Lin Xuan's warship with terrifying speed. His sword slashed down without hesitation, heedless of the Navy soldiers onboard.
Boom!
A devastating, razor-sharp strike hit the warship, cleaving it clean in two. The soldiers aboard suffered heavy casualties under the attack.
Say what you will about Doberman, but while he wasn't on the level of an admiral, his strength was formidable. His subordinate, Captain T-Bone, was known as the "Ship-Slicer" for cutting pirate vessels to pieces like steak, and Doberman's power far surpassed his. Slicing a warship in half was well within his capabilities.
The commotion drew the attention of many on the battlefield.
When they saw Doberman attacking a Navy warship, confusion rippled through the crowd. What's Vice Admiral Doberman doing?
But their confusion turned to shock as several figures leaped from the wreckage of the split warship.
"That's… how is he here?"
"Damn it, why is he at Marineford?"
"Is the Ninja Guild planning to join this war too?"
As the figures became clear, everyone's expressions changed.
The Navy soldiers, in particular, went pale, sweat beading on their foreheads.
The sight of that man in the air brought back memories of the recent war in the Sabaody Archipelago, sending shivers down their spines as if they were reliving that battle.
At that moment, fear gripped them instinctively.
The shadow of the Sabaody war loomed large in their minds.
On the execution platform, Steel Bone Kong's attention was drawn to the scene.
His gaze landed on Lin Xuan, and his breath caught, his pupils constricting.
This guy's here?!
With his sharp mind, how could Kong not piece it together?
He'd had a hunch Lin Xuan might get involved, but he hadn't expected him to already be here, quietly observing from a warship's deck.
Their eyes met across the battlefield.
Lin Xuan broke into a grin, raising a hand to wave at Kong as if greeting an old friend. "Yo, Marshal Kong! Long time no see!"
His words made Kong's blood boil.
Long time no see, my foot!
Glaring at Lin Xuan, Kong gritted his teeth and roared, "Lin Xuan, are you planning to join this war too?"
Lin Xuan's smile widened. "If I told you I just wanted to quietly play the handsome bystander and watch without getting involved, would you believe me?"
His words left the crowd speechless, their lips twitching.
Yeah, right. Only an idiot would buy that!
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T/N:
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